London, July 2 (BUS) – The IGA Swiatek winning machine collapsed in lush Wimbledon on Saturday as she defeated world number one and title favorite Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 6-2.
There was a sense of disbelief on the first court, as the 32-year-old unseeded outperformed Poland’s Swiatek, who had won their last 37 matches over four months.
Even when she fought back from a loss in the first three matches of the match and then also led 2-0 at the start of the second set, top seed Swiatek’s confidence was missing.
The stats say it all, with 33 fouls from Swiatek’s racket compared to seven from her opponent.
While Swiatek, who took down a group of lucky loser Leslie Patinama Kerkhove in the previous round, was clearly not shooting, nothing should be drawn from Cornet’s near-perfect match.
Cornet plays 62nd in a row, equaling Ai Sugiyama’s record, and she will face unseeded Australian Agla Tomljanovic in a bid to reach the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam this year, having not achieved it before.
She completed her surprise win in 1 hour 32 minutes, and slipped in her last six matches with Swiatek’s breakup.
“It reminds me of when I defeated Serena (Williams) here eight years ago on the same court; maybe this court is a lucky witch,” said Cornet cheerful, ranked 37th in the world.
“I live for this type of match. It really drives me. I knew I could do it and I had a belief because maybe Iga feels a little less comfortable on the grass than on other surfaces.”
Williams was also the world number one when he defeated Cornet in 2014 and the Frenchwoman rose to the occasion again this time.
She won the opening three matches and then fended off a Swiatek fight to put the opening set in her pocket.
Swiatek seemed to gain some momentum as she took a 2-0 lead in the second set but a forehand into the sidelines gave Cornet a break point.
Cornet turned when an unbalanced backhand tricked Swiatek and landed on the baseline and from that moment it was one-way traffic.
“I feel like maybe like a good wine; in France it’s always good wine with age, and that’s what happened to me,” Cornet said of her comeback this year.
“It’s unreal – I’m playing one of the best seasons of my career, I feel great on the court. I’m still very excited and I can still feel the fire inside me.”